Friday, January 23, 2015

Vogue Knitting Live Weekend.

After the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, people at work asked "What did you do last weekend?".  I said " I went to a knitting convention sponsored by Vogue Knitting Magazine".  They wanted to laugh when I said knitting convention, but then looked perplexed and said "Vogue...like the fashion magazine with all the celebrities and models".  Yes... VOGUE.  Oh, so NOW you are interested, huh?

I will start by saying that I was so excited, I forgot to take pictures of most things. But, I will do my best to describe what I was feeling.  How can you put "ridiculously excited at every minute" into words.  The words just cannot contain the emotion.  Between seeing old friends, making new ones, looking at all the pretty yarn colors, finding new knitting accessories, and meeting designers of things that I actually knitted, I was floored.

First things first.  I had to meet up with my core knitting group, the Knatural Purls.  We are a fun bunch who celebrate our love of knitting and love (and sometimes war) with having curly hair.  As beautiful as it is, it can be a lot  of work to keep the hairstyles in great shape.  I'm glad to  ha the support system.   Another big topic of discussion.....finding the perfect hat for all of this hair.  More on that later.


The first booth I made a purchase at was The Dancing Sheep.  I saw a bag that had a corresponding fabric to a bag I made a few years ago, and just had to have it. 


Look at how happy the little bag is in it's new home. 


Then, I walked past Biscotte & Cie and couldn't resist making a purchase. Their sock kits are fun and gorgeous. I also love their self striping color ways. 



I ended up purchasing a pattern with owls on a tree and another with fish under the sea.  I ran into a small problem with my bank card being super protective of my account. They didn't want to let the transaction go through because the company is from Quebec.  I guess they though my card ran away to Canada for the weekend. So, I pulled out my American Express Serve card, which I preload with funds for yarn purchases (yes, I have a card for yarn...don't judge).  The transaction went through. Lovely! It pays to be smart about your finances. I later called the bank and sorted everything out with my card. 


My last yarn purchase was at Dragonfly Fibers. I had such a tough time picking a color. But, these spoke to me. I also figured that it was a limited edition, being that it is a Sock Summit color.  So, I had to have it.  

The next day I got to live one of my dreams.  I met the owners of Malabrigo at a trunk show at La Casita.  I was thrilled. I have been in love with Malabrigo ever since I first laid hands on it, and I was so happy that they decided to show at my favorite yarn shop in Brooklyn.  


Here I am in their lovely "Sunset Park" scarf, designed specifically for their book Rasta in Brooklyn. It's so warm and fluffy.

This time I am wearing Gowanus and Tawana is wearing what I think is Lineal from Malarigo Book Four.    This is actually size small.  I usually knit a medium, but bulky yarn has a tendency to expand, so it was a perfect fit.   

I really want this sweater.


Here are the lovely people that make it all happen.  There were hugs all around.   I tried to speak my best spanish and she tried to speak her best english, and we were able to discuss our love for this beautiful yarn.  She was amazed when I showed her all  of my ravelry pics of past Malabrigo projects.  The love for this yarn spans years.  

So, that  means it is time to present the yarn for the next project.  I am going to make a hat and cowl set for my friend Judith.  She chose chunky yarn in the Polyvoriento colorway.  She doesn't know how quickly you can fall in  love with Malabrigo.  She will find out soon enough. 


Monday, January 19, 2015

2015 - The Year of the Sock

As the beginning of the New Year makes its way into our lives, we start to think about all of the hopes we have for the future.  The countless items that we want to knit are just calling us from their pattern booklets and magazines.  The yarn that wants to get knit up into that oh-so-special-something is saying "Pick me, Pick me".  I have deided that this year, I am going to get serious about socks and I want you to as well.

I have more skeins of sock yarn than I can count.  1 bin of old sock yarn packed away in the closet, 1 bin of sock WIPs, 1 bin of socks to start now, and another bin of newly acquired sock yarn.  Sock yarn isn't stash, right?  Well, that's  the problem there in itself.  I have more socks in skein form than in completed sock form.  This year, that is going to change.

I usually run into a pattern of knitting only 1 thing for a little while, then putting it down and picking up something else.  Things get pushed to the front of the line if there is an upcoming event and I MUST finish that sweater. Otherwise, projects are languishing and I knit what I feel like.  So, what would happen if I devoted at least 1 hour a day entirely to a pair of socks? Well, they would definitely be completed and my feet would be nice and toasty.  

Let me introduce you to my novel idea.

It's called 60 MINUTE SOCKAGRAM

The instructions are quite simple.
Pick any yarn and any pattern (knit or crochet)
Cast on.
Set a timer for 60 minutes.
Knit for those 60 minutes and take a picture of your project.
Knit for another 60 minutes and take another picture.
Keep repeating those steps until the socks are complete.
Compile all of these pictures into a Flipagram post.
Post the competed project on Instagram and hashtag it #60minsockagram.

Here is the first 60 Minute Sockagram that I made.  
The yarn is Voolenvine Yarns "Deck the Halls"
The pattern is Zigzagular Socks by Susie White

 Here are some of my favorite photos from my project







You can find the Ravelry group here, if you would like to join in on the fun. 

 HERE